"New findings on SARS-CoV-2: from potential recombination to host-directed drug targets and protective immunity"
The potential for recombination between SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, which could result in the emergence of a new β-coronavirus clade, calls for the development of pan-β-CoV vaccines and CoV entry and replication inhibitor-based therapeutics. The receptor-sharing by SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV relatives makes simultaneous infection by two different coronavirus clades more likely, even leading to a higher probability of RNA-RNA recombination within the same cell. The development of broad-spectrum vaccines and therapeutic drugs with efficacy against pan-β-coronaviruses, especially those sharing the same host receptor, is urgently needed to combat the pandemics or epidemics caused by emerging SARS-CoV-3 or MERS-CoV-2 in the future.